Does waiting time for radiotherapy affect local control of T1N0M0 glottic laryngeal carcinoma?

This is a retrospective study of 362 patients with a T1N0M0 glottic larynge al carcinoma treated by radiotherapy. Waiting time was defined as time from the day of histopathological diagnosis to the first day of radiotherapy. T he Cox regression model was used to analyse the influence of waiting time f or radiotherapy on the incidence of recurrence. The median follow-up time w as 4.4 years. The median waiting time for radiotherapy was 43 days. Local r ecurrences were found in 58 patients. There was no significant correlation (P = 0.88) between waiting time and the outcome of early glottic cancer as analysed by Cox regression. This retrospective study did not demonstrate an effect of waiting time for radiotherapy on the outcome of early glottic la ryngeal cancer.